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“I think ArtsWeek will help establish Syracuse as a cultural destination,” says Larry Luttinger, executive director of both the Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation and the Jazz and Wine Festival and along with the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, one of the planners of ArtsWeek. “You can’t just go to other places in the state like Rochester or Buffalo and have this kind of experience. This will prove to Central New Yorkers that complain that there isn’t anything to do here that there is a lot to do, and that they are lucky to have such an active summer scene.”
In contrast to blues or other forms of music that are performed within a certain structure, jazz is the ideal euphonic mirage for ArtsWeek because the only way to define jazz, like any other fine art, is not to define it at all. French Impressionist Edgar Degas once stated that, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” and the colors of sounds a jazz band paints across the blue-skied canvas, improvised without borders, rhapsodies the listener on a journey to the end of the rhythm.
Obviously, the name wasn’t the only thing changed about this downtown jazz festival. “We’ve changed our footprint a little bit,” continues Luttinger. “We still have three stages but we’re entirely in Clinton Square now and our main stage will now be on the west end of Clinton Square, facing east. We also turned our former stage area into an outdoor cafe where we’ll have many more food options {such as Carribean King, Frankie’s Picolo Bistro, Bull and Bear, and Sakana Ya}, plus corporate, informational, and arts and crafts vendors than we’ve ever had before, which will create a line feeding into the lobby of the Atrium where the wine courts will be.”
Another change that’s been made to the festival arrangement is more covered space in case of rainy weather—Luttinger notes that last year was the wettest weekend they’ve ever had. There will be two covered pavilions with a bar at one end where beer and wine will be served and a performance stage at the other, with plenty of seating in between. One is called the Mardi Gras Pavilion and will feature groups that evoke the New Orleans jazz sound, and the other is the World Beat Pavilion, which will feature bands that incorporate eclectic jazz, blues, Latin and more. “They’ll be like two nightclubs of sorts on the festival grounds,” says Luttinger.
The headliner on the Jazz and Wine Fest’s opening night, Thursday, July 23, 8 p.m.—as it has always been at the festival—will be the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra accompanied by the festival’s first “resident artist,” saxophonist Joe Magnarelli, a native of Syracuse who has worked with such acclaimed artists as Lionel Hampton, Harry Connick Jr. and Ray Barretto. Wrapping the music on Friday, July 24, 10 p.m., is Marion Meadows, a tenor and soprano saxophonist who has collaborated with The Temptations, Eartha Kitt and Brook Benton. Closing out the festival at 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 25, is the Donald Harrison Quartet.
Regarded as one of the most influential saxophonists of his time, the 47-year-old Harrison, known as the “King of Nouveau Swing,” has kept to his New Orleans roots: He’s led a sort of “neo-conservative” movement after leaving Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, which he joined at age 21. He has since worked with a variety of musicians, including the late hip-hop icon Notorious B.I.G., as well as Digable Planets, and has also worked with world-class talent such as Lena Horne, Christian McBride and Larry Coryell. “Our festival is a celebration of the unique diversity and social power of America’s music,” says Luttinger.
Days of Wine And Noises
As the vintners of choice for the event, Luttinger has enlisted Berringer Wines, based in California, and Australia-based Foster’s Group, the company that produces the beer of the same name but also distributes wine all over the world on a much larger scale. “There will be wines from every continent,” notes Luttinger.
Luttinger says he decided to incorporate wine into this year’s festival because he was looking for new dimensions to counter the declining economy and develop new fund-raising streams. “We did this very scientifically and looked at it demographically,” he recalls. “We looked at a recent study done by Constellation Brands about the people who go to jazz events and people who go to wine events and we found out what common sense will tell you: It’s the same people.
“We searched for anything called a ‘jazz and wine’ or ‘wine and jazz’ festival,” he continues, “and we found out that there are two large festivals on the West Coast—one in the Pacific Northwest wine-growing region and the other in Northern California—and then there’s a summer event in Breckenridge, Colo. Those are the only multi-day jazz and wine festivals with more than one day of national headlining acts in the entire United States. In the Northeast, there are one-day events at regional vineyards, but in terms of this region and a substantial jazz festival with a national lineup paired with the wine aspect, it didn’t exist and there was a market need for that.”
There will be four exclusive wine tastings during the Jazz and Wine Fest, with four featured wines at each session and educational wine experts on hand to guide people through the qualities of the glasses they are quaffing. The cost of each tasting will be $10 and they will take place Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m., Friday from 5 to 10 p.m., and Saturday from 2 to 6 and 7 to 11 p.m.
“We’re hoping to turn this into the largest multi-day jazz and wine festival in the Northeast,” says Luttinger. “And we think we have an ideal setting to create a synergy between people who love jazz and people who love wine.”
For more information, visit www.nejazzwinefest.org
—Tom Kahley
Jazz and the Square: From the 2007 festival, the CNY Jazz Orchestra entertained in the big band style. In 2008, festival director Larry Luttinger kept the beat while the sun set over the Niagara Mohawk Building. Michael Davis photos
Clinton Square
Thursday, July 23
American Express Main Stage
Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
with Joe Magnarelli, 8 p.m.
Unimar Mardi Gras Pavilion
Nick Palumbo Quartet, 5 and 10 p.m.
Unimar World Beat Pavilion
Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet, 5 and 10 p.m.
Friday, July 24
American Express Main Stage
John Stetch Trio, 6:30 p.m.
Central New York Jazz Orchestra
with Joe Magnarelli, 8:15 p.m.
Marion Meadows, 10 p.m.
Unimar Mardi Gras Pavilion
State Fair Four, 5, 7:30 and 9:15 p.m.
Unimar World Beat Pavilion
Fabulous Ripcords, 5, 7:30 and 9:15 p.m.
Hanover Square Stage
Sophistafunk, 5, 7:30 and 9:15 p.m.
Club Scene
Bull & Bear Pub
125 E. Water St.
Sophistafunk, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Jazz Central
441 E. Washington St.
Late Night Jam Session, 11:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 25
American Express Main Stage
Scholastic Festival with Joe Magnarelli Stan Colella Parks & Rec All-Star Big Band, noon
CNY Jazz Kids, 1 p.m.
Syracuse University “Supersax” Ensemble, 2 p.m.
Battle of the Community Big Bands
Resonance 7, 3 p.m.
The Rhythm-Airs, 4 p.m.
The Jazz Kats, 5 p.m.
American Express Main Stage
Thelonius Monk Project, 6:30 p.m.
Nicole Henry, 8:15 p.m.
Donald Harrison Quartet, 10 p.m.
Unimar Mardi Gras Pavilion
John Seiger Quartet, 5, 7:30 and 9:15 p.m.
Unimar World Beat Pavilion
Salsa Son Timba, 5, 7:30 and 9:15 p.m.
Club Scene
Bull & Bear Pub
125 E. Water St.
Endive, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Jazz Central
441 E. Washington St.
Late Night Jam Session, 11:30 p.m.
